Nintendo does occasionally have humorous timing, releasing a new system update for the Wii U on 1st April. It's real though, we can assure you of that, and is a relatively small download that should download and install within five minutes on a solid connection.

As always the Nintendo support website provides a changelog, with this one merely specifying more stability.and adjustments.

Improvements to system stability and usability:

Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience.

Just how stable can the Wii U get? It's a question for the ages, though jesting aside it's pleasing to see Nintendo keeping active with maintenance on the system. Considering its April Fools' arrival we haven't seen any hidden jokes or gags related to this update, so you can download with comfort.

It's available in North America, Europe and Australia right now, so grab it while it's hot.

@withoutdkI only had AC 3 freeze twice in a 25 hour play time. But it is a issue with the Wii U on any game. Hopefully this update fixes the issue & Nintendo keep at it to finally sort out all the bugs within the Wii U.

@turnmebackwardsMaybe I got lucky and have a different version that doesn't do it. Which is funny, because I have a day 1 console. I've been playing Deus Ex, DKC and AC4 for something like 8 hours without pause and never had problems.

The only time my Wii U ever freezes (and even then it is still VERY rare), was sometimes, after using LoveFilm and trying to get back to the Wii U homepage, it froze and I had to unplug the main power cable from the back. This happened 1 in every 20/25 times though. And I got rid of LiveFilm for Netflix last month, so it shouldn't happen at all now lol Touch wood, it has never once frozen in a game for me. Hopefully it stays that way lol

Zelda has major lag issues also... so no... and all 3rd party games i have played has lag issues... the firmware might not change anything related to AC3 but...it should at least make the experience better...

well... to me that is an issue... as it shows that nintendo are also having problems coding their own software for their own machine... and i dont hate nintendo... i love nintendo, and i expect to see value for money... i hope for an performance improvement.

@withoutdk Seriously ? THAT is an "issue" and a "drop in vallue for your money" ? You must have fun with SO MANY games out there if THAT is a reason to complain -.- No offense, but that is ridiculous.The only thing that this prooves it, that too many shaded smoke cloud sprites with lots and lots of alpha blending can lead to slowdown. And that will happen to basicly every mashine out there. Its not a problem, its more an unwise decision to use that effect IF it happens at all that is.

@turnmebackwards I finally traded my Lego Batman 2 because it froze so much. Lego Marvel did too but not as bad. Always thought it was the game not the WiiU though. Interesting if it was actually my WiiU.

I'd have to side with Einherjar on this one. All my copies of Nintendo's first party titles are running flawlessly. I've noticed no frame rate drops. Even my third-party titles (ACIII/IV, Ghosts, Black Ops II, Splinter Cell, Rayman) all run solidly. Though, this is a person who found no drops in GTA V on PS3 and keeps his gaming PC locked to 30FPS. So disregard my comment.

"Just how stable can the Wii U get?", not stable enough for me that's what! I've been getting freeze's in nearly every game (about 14 of them) since launch day, and still it happens after 3 major updates, Nintendo get it sorted!

I love how I'm not the only one who clearly has freezing issues with their system. However, since I've stopped playing third-party games on the system it hasn't frozen once. Funny how I've never had a single issue with any of Nintendo's own games on the console, just third-party ones. 90 combined hours in Tropical Freeze and 3D World without a single freeze, but over 12 freezes in 20 hours of Need for Speed Most Wanted and 3 freezes in 2 hours of Assassin's Creed 3. Thankfully I now own other consoles which actually successful run third-party games. For the few games that I'll ever own on the Wii U I'm very happy with it now. I assume, now that I'll never play a third-party game on the console again, that I will not have any more freezing issues.

The load times in that game really are not that bad. It loads for a few seconds before and after each level and for about 10-15 seconds to get to the file select screen when you first start the game up. How dare the game load during a loading screen.

You're right. Nintendo clearly knows what they're doing with the system. It's the third-parties who are doing something wrong. They're either not putting in enough time or effort or simply not caring. Wind Waker, both Mario games, and DKC - all 100% fine. Mass Effect, Darksiders, AC III, Need for Speed - multiple freezes in each during my time with them.

One more comment and then I’ll leave this alone. I just checked with my Activity Log and I have played New Mario Bros. U, 3D World, Wind Waker, and DKC collectively for 147 hours. Not a single freeze with any of those games in that time. Therefore, there is no excuse for Need for Speed to freeze over a dozen times in 20 hours of gameplay.

@withoutdk think your way off the mark on this man. My Wii u has crashed about 6 or 7 times always on ports from other formats and mainly Ubisoft games. Walking dead was dodgy at best but that summed that game up in general.Frame rate wise, this is 100% software .assains creed games have frame rate issues on all formats and having played a.c.4. On ps3 and Wii u .... It's much better on Wii u. This is down to lazy coding and inexperienced hardware optimisation, something Nintendo are guilty of at times, but rarely. It sounds like minor issues in zelda and is most likely because that is in itself a port from gamecube and is the first open wolrld 3d game out on the system. Mario 3d world was praised by devs for being the most stable frame rate , at 60fps, of all of 2013. I think they're getting the hang of it. =)

Lego Marvel froze almost every time it was played, bu a quick Google search said it's the software as it also freezes on other systems as well. Pokemon Rumble U gave me such problems I returned my Wii U to Nintendo or a new one.

Is this an auto update? That light turns yellow for a minute every hour, it might as well be doing something.

@turnmebackwards@8bitforever I just finished 100%'ing lego batman, never had one freeze at all in that game or any Nintendo games. The only freezes I have had is in assassins creed 3 quite a bit with low frames and lots of glitches. I say that is ubisofts fault though for making a bad game nothing to do with Nintendo console.

So far I've never had stability issue's with my Wii U. I think that half of the time these updates aren't really about stability but more about preventing system exploits or better said, system modifications. Being one step ahead of the console modders at all time. I don't blame Nintendo if this is the case, but then they might as well be honest about it.

I notice that the program icons on the main menu seem to be loading quicker. Wonder if there are any other minor performance increases system wide? For one it would be nice if loading was sped up from software running on external harddrives.

@turnmebackwards I had that issue back when it launched but that is understandable. Since last September I haven't had a single issue with my Wii U. These updates go in and fix problems like freezing, losing connection to the game pad and fluidity of going from program to program like going from in game to Miiverse. The Wii U has improved a LOT and is continuing to! The only games my Wii U did freeze on the few times it did were on shoddy launch 3rd party ports anyhow. Sonic Racing, COD BO2, Batman AC once and (although it was a fantastic port that came out later) Need for Speed. Even with those games I haven't had them freeze or lock up since the steady flow of updates started.

@withoutdk my Wii u has frozen a fair bit over the last 18months I think it's an Internet thing for me, even if the game isn't online. Recently I have turned off the auto check for updates every 15 mins and it has almost totally stopped.

Sigh, more stability updates, yet the Wii U is probably the most unstable mess I own. Jeez, Wii U is on the path to being just my Mario Kart box; I had been hoping that it would be greater than this. IMO, Sony has surpassed them almost completely in DESIGNING both handheld and home consoles (even if Vita isn't as successful as 3DS so far). Now I don't think Nintendo should quit consoles, hell they better make more of them, but they need to get their act together before the next generation that's coming up in perhaps 4 years (I expect Wii U to last another 4 years for a total of 5 years like most of its predecessors; 3DS may last about 7 years like the DS, but anyway having the 9th generation with both a new Nintendo handheld and Nintendo home console possibly coming out together would hopefully point towards a hybrid console instead.)
Feels like the Wii U is just an alpha-test for their next console while the 3DS is just something they threw together to make enough money to fully fund their 9th generation. I own and love both consoles, each to a certain extent, but that's how I feel. It's a good thing that I don't lock myself down to a single platform.
(This has been a morning rant from a cranky person, thanks for reading!)

@withoutdkThe last time I had it crash/freeze in a game was before the second last big update. After that it's only crashed a few times and that's when I have six videos or more loaded in the browser at once. So maybe twice after hundreds of hours.

AC 3 and Batman AC always froze for me but it was because my external harddrive went into a sleep mode. After the update if the drive is in sleep mode the system gives it time to activate before it saves, loads, etc.

If you are saving just to your Wii U I don't know what the problem would be.

It is sad Nintendo does not feel the need to post actual changelogs. Did you know that the connection speed you get from an Ethenet connection (using the USB adapter) is vastly improved (i.e. not throttled) in the current Wii U when compared with the launch firmware?

Likewise on the 3DS did you know that after a certain firmware problems in Bit.Trip Saga and Rayman 3D were lessened.

I guess Nintendo feel that these are like a "it shouldn't have launched like that" but its better than generic text every time.

@SetupDiski play most of my games from the optical discs...it is no problem as the cames save the content often,.. but i dont like the console for crashing... in old days when windows crashed one to many times i always ended up with bad sectors and a BSOD... i dont want the same here

The update installed last night no issues, I have only ever had 1 freeze on my Release Day Wii U, and that was Oct 2013 on Sonic Racing Transformed. I have never had any other stability issues with my Wii U.@pukka-pie Totally agree with you, I would love to play my vast Wii Games collection Via the GamePad while my Wife hogs the TV

Not sure why but since this update my WiiU has been freezing over 50% of the time and refusing to connect to my local area network vid streams that I used to watch flawlessly until now via a LAN website with mp4 streams.